Trump Tariff Tumble: A Folly

If I had to make a joke instead of cry, the joke I'd make is this:

As Bart Simpson would say, "eat my shorts!" - that is what those betting against the stock market are saying right now.

However this is no joke.

Those nearing retirement, however, are horrified when they look at the balance of their retirement accounts and see that their retirement savings are down five percent this week. Those that have been struggling since the Covid-19 lockdowns are looking at new tariffs on everyday items, and worrying about how they can stretch their paychecks even more.

The Reform Party is not against common sense trade protections, and has never advocated for strict free trade, but we know that Trump has tumbled when it comes to tariffs. Trump's actions are wrong. Trump's concepts are wrong.

Trump's tariff plan is a folly.

In 1992, three men contended to be the President of the United States, and Ross Perot spoke about the problems with the North American Free Trade Agreement. He said that if NAFTA became law, there would be a "giant sucking sound" as jobs went to Mexico. The tariffs he was protecting had a weighted average of 3.95 percent.

Trump's average tariffs are more than twice that, and the highest tariffs are more than ten times that. The last time high tariffs were put into place was in 1930. Those tariffs prolonged the Great Depression. We must learn from that history or suffer a similar economic downturn.

The Reform Party of the United States demands that Donald Trump end his nonsense, and cut the new taxes he levied on America. We demand that he ends his tariffs this instant.

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